3V 

1075 



INCENTIVES TO DUTY 



IN THE WOEK OF MISSIONS 



A 



SERMON 



PREACHED FOR THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH IN NE^V" YORK, MAY 4, 1856, 



BY THE 

REV. PHINEAS D. GURLEY, D.D. 

MINISTER OF THE F ST. CHUKCH, "WASHINGTON CITY. 



PUBLISHED 



NEW YORK: 
AT THE MISSION 



HOUSE, 



INCENTIVES TO DUTY IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS: 



jY SERMON, 

PKEACHED FOE THE BOAED OF FOEEIGN MISSIONS OF THE PEESBYTEEIAN CHUECH, 
IN* NEW YOEK, MAY 4, 1856, 

BY THE 

REV PHINEAS 13. GURLEY, D,D. 

11INISTEE OF THE F STEEET CHURCH, WASHINGTON CITY. 



" And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."— Mark xyL 15, 

So spake the Son of God. These are among the last words He addressed to His 
apostles before He was parted from them, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 
The circumstances were memorable. From the deepest scenes of his humiliation he had 
just emerged in triumph. He had endured the cross, despising the shame, — and his suf- 
ferings were finished. The work of atonement was complete. He had been delivered for 
the offences of many, and raised again for their justification ; that resurrection had fully 
vindicated his character and claims as the true Messiah, the promised Saviour of the 
world ; and now as he is about to return to his Father and his throne, he says to the 
eleven, and through them to all his people in every age, even unto the end of the world, 
" It is for you now to tell to dying sinners everywhere the story of my love — what I 
have done and suffered for their salvation. Spread it, spread it to earth's remotest bounds. 
This is my last behest. With these words I leave you, 1 Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the Gospel to every creature.' " 

Here lies the sanction and here dates the commencement of the missionary enterprise. 
It is a risen and ascending Saviour's last legacy to his people. This great and precious 
interest, this momentous part of the scheme of human redemption, he has confided to them 
that they may act as the cherishers of its life, the agents of its progress and its achieve- 
ments. Here, too, we see the vast extent of the missionary enterprise, the dimensions of 
that territory upon which it is to operate, and upon every habitable part of which it is 
ultimately to triumph. " The field is the world" — u all the world." The commission is 
far-reaching, like the love of Him who gave it ; and it is put into the hands of those in 
whose hearts that same love has been shed abroad by the Holy Spirit. It is, therefore > 
expected of them that their feelings will harmonize with the spirit of the commission — that 
their benevolent sympathies will be co-extensive with the ruins of the fall — that they will 
yearn over the condition of man, guilty, benighted, perishing man, of every color and every 
clime, and be very anxious to tell him the glad tidings of a Saviour, 



4 



INCENTIVES TO DUTY 



But if the field is very large, it is also very dark. " Darkness covers the earth, and 
gross darkness the people." Indeed, the scene presented to the eye of Christian benevo- 
lence in the unevangelized portions of our world is gloomy, painful, and revolting, beyond 
description. The most absurd systems of idolatry everywhere prevail. Religious homage 
is paid to dumb idols of wood and stone, to the luminaries of heaven, to the spirits of de- 
parted men, to malignant demons, and even to brutes and crawling reptiles. The most 
cruel, foul, and debasing religious rites are everywhere adhered to and practiced. The 
very images and sculpture of idol temples are in the main but spectacles of impurity. 
The heathen have no correct views of a future state. Though unable to erase or resist the 
impression of a life to come, yet, in the absence of revelation, they have given to a corrupt 
and disordered fancy the privilege of drawing her own picture of that life, and, as we 
should expect, the picture, like its source, is low and sensual. Degrading views of the 
Deity and of Divine wqfship, mingled with grossly erroneous apprehensions of life beyond 
the grave, must, of course, result in the most loathsome and extensive wickedness. And 
accordingly the united voice of all who have gone from Gospel lands to the heathen testi- 
fies, that none but eye-witnesses can have any adequate idea of the shocking scenes of de- 
pravity which are everywhere exhibited. That awful description of abominations con- 
tained in the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, is an accurate picture of 
heathenism as it appears at the present day. Yice now, as in the days of the Apostles, 
bursts over all control, levels all barriers, and rolls its waves of corruption, broad and 
deep, on every side. The whole idol system, all over the earth, is replete with enormities 
untold and unimagined, and carries its deluded victims down, down to such shameless 
pollution that the details would be too revolting to be endured. 

Such is the world to be evangelized — so dark and degraded ; such is the field to be ex- 
plored, occupied, and made vocal, first with the story and then with the praises of Jesus ; 
such is the territory to be illuminated, and disenthralled, and won to Christ by the mis- 
sionary enterprise. So great and so blessed is the work to be done. These systems of 
idolatry, hoary and strong, which have stood for centuries, supported by the pride, the 
prejudices, the evil passions, and the superstitious fears of men ; these systems to which 
whole nations have become wedded by lOng and inveterate habit ; which are associated 
with all that is precious in the memory of their ancestors, and interwoven, in many in- 
stances, with the institutions and entire policy of their various forms of government — these 
systems with all their appendages in whatever continent or island they may be found, the 
missionary enterprise proposes to sap, weaken, and overthrow — and that too without 
physical violence or the shedding of blood. By the use of the simplest moral means it 
proposes to remedy all those evils — the fruit of ignorance and depravity, which abound in 
heathen lands ; by the simple preaching of the Gospel it proposes to make light spring up 
in the place of darkness, order in the place of confusion, mercy in the place of cruelty, 
holiness in the place of sin, and the spiritual worship of the true and only living God in 
the place of blinding superstitions and soul-ruining idolatries. The object which the 
missionary enterprise aims to accomplish, and which the Son of God designed that it should 
accomplish when he uttered the words, or rather issued the mandate of our text, will not 
be fully realized till the Gospel has been preached, and preached successfully in every 
land. Till the Indians in our western wilds bury the tomahawk and bow to the sceptre 
of the Prince of Peace ; till the slaves of superstition in South America shall be emanci- 
pated ; till Africa shall be redeemed, and even Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto 
God ; till the moral aspect of Asia shall be changed, her moral darkness dissipated, and 



IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS. 



5 



her countless millions shall gather and worship around the cross ; till all the inhabited 
islands of the sea know of our Immanuel and declare his praise ; till the spell of Moham- 
medan imposture is broken, the fetters of papal superstition are everywhere thrown off, the 
diversified forms of false religion melt and disappear before " the truth as it is in Jesus," 
the Jews are brought in with the fulness of the G entiles, and the kingdom and dominion, 
and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of 
the saints of the Most High. No : the design of the missionary enterprise will not be 
completed till 

" One song employs all nations, and all cry, 
' Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us 
The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks, 
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy; 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round." 

If such, my brethren, is the vastness of the missionary enterprise ; if the territory it pro. 
poses to occupy and redeem is so dark and so extensive, and the difficulties it proposes to 
overcome are so numerous and formidable, then it is natural and proper that we should 
inquire, where are found our encouragements for engaging in it ? What is the basis upon 
which we rest our hope of success ? True-, here is the commission explicit and unequivocal, 
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." This makes duty 
plain, so plain that we cannot mistake it, and may not refuse or even hesitate to discharge 
it without .the greatest guilt ; but still it may be profitable for us to inquire, Have we 
any incentives to obedience beyond the naked command itself ? Is there anything in the 
past history of the missionary enterprise, or any inspired record touching its coming des- 
tiny, which is suited to stimulate the courage and the efforts of its friends ? Any provi- 
dential seals or scriptural teachings and predictions respecting it which point to a great 
and a glorious issue ? 

1. Are there any Providential seals upon this enterprise, clear and encouraging ? In 
answering this inquiry, I remark : The first great chapter in its history extends from the 
day of Pentecost over the first three centuries of the Christian era, and is a chapter lumi- 
nous with the approving signet of Divinity. The apostles, to whom the commission of our 
text was primarily given, were eleven feeble men from low stations in life, without learn- 
ing, without wealth, without honor, limited in influence and unknown to fame. Yet to 
them was committed the work of diffusing through the world a spiritual and a holy re- 
ligion—a religion directly opposed to the inbred corruptions of human nature, and utterly 
at war with idolatrous systems of belief and of worship , which had stood for ages, sustained 
by the craft of a designing priesthood, and the influence of a benumbing superstition 
whose chains were like adamant, and its dominion universal. Looking simply at the 
greatness of the result to be accomplished, and contrasting it with the feebleness of the 
instrumentality to be employed, we should at once pronounce the enterprise visionary and 
delusive— the wildest dream that ever employed the thoughts or roused the energies of 
man. Still the apostles knew that the commission they had received was a reality, and 
not a delusion. Its authority was high, its terms were clear — they had not mistaken 
either its source or its import ; and not many days after the effusion of the Spirit at 
Jerusalem, they entered boldly and earnestly upon its execution. In the name and 
strength of "the Man of Calvary" they went forth testifying, to both Jews and Greeks, 
repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord J esus Christ. They travelled through Asia 



6 



INCENTIVES TO DUTY 



Minor, crossed over into Greece, and penetrated as far as Italy, preaching everywhere a 
crucified Saviour as the only hope of the world. Nor did they promulgate the unpopular 
doctrines of the Gospel merely among the lower orders of the people, they taught openly 
in the synagogues, they went to the most populous and refined cities, the centres of learn- 
ing, influence, and idolatry ; they assailed wickedness in high places, and denounced super- 
stition in its strongest holds. The very points where Pagan idolatry could rally its 
strongest forces and oppose Christianity to the best advantage, were chosen by the 
apostles as their most favorite field of labor. " There, while philosophers sat around them 
and caviled, and mobs gathered to do them violence, and interested craftsmen sung the 
praises of Diana," they spake of Jesus, preached the Gospel, told the simple story of the 
cross. An'd what was their success ? Brethren, you have read the record, and you know 
the answer. "Wherever they went the God of Missions went with them. Wherever they 
preached the Word took effect. " Amid the profligacy and licentiousness of Corinth a 
flourishing church was planted. Rome, too, saw the Gospel triumph within her walls, and 
erect its standard at the gates of her Imperial palace, and gather its trophies from the very 
household of Caesar." But not to enumerate particular victories. Suffice it to say, but a 
little more than a century had elapsed from the birth of Christ, when his religion had 
diffused itself throughout the greater part of the Roman Empire, and gained such an 
ascendency over idolatry that Pliny the Younger, in writing to Trajan, speaks of the 
heathen temples as having been almost desolate, their sacred solemnities intermitted, and 
their sacrificial victims as finding only here and there a purchaser. And for more than two 
centuries from this time, Christianity continued to spread its light and its victories, till, in 
the language of Tertullian and Origen, its doctrines " filled the cities, islands, towns, 
boroughs, the camp, the senate, and the forum ; " and in the still stronger language of 
Jerome, " the passion and resurrection of Christ were celebrated in the discourses of all 
nations." " The fierceness of Thracians and Scythians was softened by the gentle sound of 
the Gospel, and everywhere Christ was ' all in all.' " 

Surely this success was the work of God. His servants planted and watered, but He 
gave the increase. Surely on every section and line of this first chapter in the history 
of the missionary enterprise we have the approving seal of Providence— broad and brilliant 
— and it seems to have been given thus early that the Church, in every subsequent age, 
might believe and know when engaging in the work of missions, that the God of Provi- 
dence is most assuredly with her— to open the way for her progress, to defend her from her 
enemies, and to crown her labors with a blessing. 

Let us now pass to what may be termed the latest chapter in the history of the mis- 
sionary enterprise, and inquire whether it also bears the impress of a Divine signature and 
benediction — the mark of a superintending and a prospering Providence ? In the infancy 
of our modern missionary societies, some were ready to denounce the very attempt to 
convert the heathen world to God, as the extreme of fanaticism — a wild speculation — an 
ignorant crusade, better adapted to the superstitious age that preceded the Reformation, 
than to times like the present, so eminently distinguished by rational inquiry, enlightened 
zeal, and religious prudence. Almost within the memory of some now living, scepticism 
sneered at the idea of evangelizing pagans, as altogether visionary and preposterous : nay, 
many professors of Christianity even, regarded the promoters of missionary effort as rash 
and inconsiderate. If they gave them credit for good intentions, they denied their discre- 
tion ; if they admitted their zeal, they could not for a moment allow them knowledge ; 
and if they indulged a favorable opinion of their piety, they looked upon them rather as 



IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS. 



7 



persons to be commiserated for their weakness,, than to be followed and aided in their 
wild and dangerous undertaking. But results as already realized abundantly prove that 
the modern friends of missions were right, and their opposers wrong. Whether we look 
to the East or to the West, to the North or to the South, we see the most signal and 
cheering evidence that this cause recently as in primitive times has been sustained and 
forwarded of God. On no other supposition can we account for its achievements, so many 
and so wonderful. We can only refer you to them in a very brief and summary statement. 
Within less than fifty years the missionary enterprise has driven idolatry from more than 
twenty islands of the sea. It has so tamed the ferocity of numerous savage tribes, that 
they have beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. It 
has broken in pieces some of the most iron-hearted despotisms that have ever scourged and 
crushed the human family. It has erected hundreds of temples to the living God in the 
very midst of the habitations of cruelty, and from them is now pouring upon the surround- 
ing darkness and suffering the glorious light of truth and the healing balm of mercy. It has 
raised whole communities from the most brutal and disgusting degradation to intelligence, 
sobriety, social order, and domestic happiness. It has exerted its renewing, redeeming power 
upon unregenerate thousands, inspiring hatred of sin and the love and practice of holiness. 
It has furnished the afflicted in heathen lands with Divine consolation, the blind with sight, 
the wretched with songs of gladness, and the dying with triumphant hopes taking hold of 
immortality. In answer to its call, and under the power of its love, many of the sable sons 
of Africa have come out from a darkness thicker than that of Egypt, into the marvellous 
light of the Gospel. In India the devotees of superstition have felt their ranks invaded — 
and this very moment they are alarmed and trembling for the issue. Already they have 
seen the charm of caste dissolved, victims rescued from the wheels of Juggernaut, widows 
from the funeral pile of their husbands, and infants devoted to death snatched from the 
waves of the Ganges, that they might live to hear the name and lisp the praises of 
Immanuel. In the islands of the Pacific, what multitudes of people, within the last thirty 
years, have cast away their idols for the. worship of Jehovah! There, indeed, a nation has 
been born in a day ; the wilderness has become a fruitful field ; the desert has yielded to 
cultivation, and the blessing of the Almighty has caused it to bud and blossom as the 
rose. Look, for example, at the Sandwich Islands — once so benighted and degraded, now 
so enlightened and elevated. How strikingly now does the social, and moral, and religious 
aspect of those Islands contrast with what was their appearance a little more than a 
quarter of a century ago. Then they bore the darkest marks of heathenism, and groaned 
under its most depressing servitude : now we find there an orderly, an intelligent, an indus- 
trious, a refined, and a truly religious people. They have flourishing schools ; they have 
immensely large and influential churches ; they have printing presses, and newspapers, and 
a Christian literature ; they have a civil constitution, a representative government, and a 
code of laws, all based upon Bible principles — in a word, they have all the benefits of an 
advanced civilization, and all the light, and purity, and blessed hopes of a prevailing and 
a triumphant Christianity. How has this change been accomplished? Ah ! the missionary 
enterprise has there bestowed its labors, and the God of missions has given it the victory. 
At his rebuke idols have fallen, darkness has fled, licentiousness has died away, and ancient 
superstitions have vanished like the mists of the morning. In obedience to his mandate, 
and by the help of his mercy, a mighty people have there burst their chains, left their 
degradation, and now stand erect before the world a visible, convincing illustration of the 
value and the power of Christian missions — and also an evidence clear as demonstration itself, 



8 INCENTIVES TO DUTY 

that such missions now, as of old, have the sanction and aid of Him whose throne is 
the heavens. Nor is this a solitary instance of success. Indeed we may say, wherever the 
missionary in modern time has set his foot, lifted up his voice, and unfurled the banner of 
the cross, there the God of Providence has been with him, the God of Grace has favored 
him, and he has obtained trophies of honor to the Redeemer. Under his efforts the slaves 
of sin have been emancipated ; and in answer to his prayers the arm of Omnipotence has 
been uplifted to demolish the strongholds of Satan, and erect upon their ruins a kingdom 
which ' ; is righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Nor can we have failed 
to notice, within the last few years especially, that the spirit of grace has refreshed and 
enlarged the feeble churches among the heathen far beyond what has been experienced by 
the churches at home — as though these tender vines in the wilderness, which his servants 
have planted with difficulty and watered with their tears, were his preference and his 
delight. According to this time, therefore, it shall be said of the missionary enterprise, 
" What hath God wrought ?" But while we see the seal of Providence, the tokens of 
Divine approbation, upon the past history of the missionary enterprise ; while we may 
point to its. past achievements as an omen of ultimate success, and an argument of sufficient 
force to silence the cavils of those who oppose it as impracticable and visionary — let it be 
understood and remembered, this is not our only nor our strongest ground of confidence 
and hope. Our encouragement for the future is derived mainly, not from what has already 
been done, but from the teachings, and promises, and predictions, of the Bible. This is the 
rock upon which we build our highest, firmest hopes ; this is the helm which shapes and 
controls our movements ; this is the sheet-anchor by which our mental tossings and mis- 
givings are staid when prospects darken, storms arise, and cherished hopes are blasted. 
This is the unerring Oracle upon whose prophetical announcements we may safely rely. 
This is the record of eternal truth, not one jot or tittle of which shall pass away till all be 
fulfilled. 

2. What, then, is the testimony of the Bible respecting the missionary enterprise? 
Does it insure its steady advancement? Does it point to a large and a glorious result? 
No question, for an answer to which we have to appeal to these lively oracles, can be 
more easily or conclusively settled than this. Here we learn that it was the Son of God 
who first put this great enterprise in motion. Having laid its foundations deep and broad 
in the Garden of Gethsemane, and upon the cross, where he gave his life a ransom for many, 
he said to his apostles, and through them to all his followers in succeeding ages — " Go ye 
into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."' No language could consti- 
tute a more unequivocal expression of his will than this ; and to the command he has 
appended a promise — "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." This 
promise is most clear, full, and animating. It authorizes us to expect that in all our 
labors for the conversion of the world the Saviour will give us his special presence and 
blessing till the design is accomplished. It authorizes us to believe that He is with us now, 
not, indeed, in person, but by the aids and influences of his Holy Spirit. It establishes the 
position that the cause of missions is his cause, not merely in its origin, but in its contin- 
uous progress from year to year. He gives the wisdom necessary to direct its movements ; 
He puts it into the hearts of his people to contribute the funds requisite to meet its pecu- 
niary claims ; He raises up and qualifies the agents appointed to prea*ch to the Gentiles the 
unsearchable riches of Christ ; He watches over their lives on the land and on the sea ; 
He sends them in safety to their various fields of labor ; and all their subsequent health, 
strength, peace, and prosperity are the fruit of his special benediction as the Light and 



IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS. 



9 



Saviour of the world. Thanks to his name — with the promise before us, " Lo, I am with 
you alway," we cannot doubt that when our beloved missionaries bid adieu to home and 
kindred, and go to the benighted heathen, they are not alone : Jesus, the Risen Redeemer, 
goes with them. He strengthens their faith, animates their courage, and prepares them 
for their work. He puts thoughts into their hearts, words into their mouths, and enables 
them to adapt their instructions to the various classes of perishing men whose salvation 
they seek to promote. In times of embarrassment and trial his arm sustains them, his 
presence cheers them, his promise inspires them with hope, and his Holy Spirit breathes 
into their souls an unutterable and heavenly peace. He comforts them under all their 
afflictions, and carries them through all their difficulties, and makes the gospel they preach 
a savor of life unto life. They may plant and water, but He gives the increase. He con- 
vinces the heathen of sin, removes their prejudices, dissipates their darkness, and makes 
them sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Such is the seal of Jesus upon the mis- 
sionary enterprise ; such the relation He sustains to it ; and such the mighty work He 
performs for its sustentation and success. This seal he has pledged Himself to give ; this 
relation He has pledged himself to sustain ; this work He has pledged himself to perform, 
not for a short and precarious duration, but "always, always," " even unto the end of the 
world." With such cooperation, mighty and perpetual, how can we doubt the result ? 

But besides Jhe assurance, that in laboring for the conversion of the world, we are acting 
in concert with the Son of God, we have a variety of promises touching the ultimate issue 
which place our hope of success upon a broad and most reliable foundation. How readest 
thou ? Is it not written in language too obvious to be misunderstood, and by a fidelity 
we may not call in question : " The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
waters fill the sea. The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under 
the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High ; and all 
dominions shall serve and obey him. And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were 
great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 
our Lord and of his Christ ; and he shall reigri for ever and ever. Thus saith the Lord 
God : Remove the diadem, and take off the crown ; exalt him that is low, and abase him 
that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it ; and it shall be no more, until he 
come whose right it is ; and I will give it him. He shall have dominion from sea to sea, 
and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall 
bow before him ; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the 
isles shall bring presents ; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings 
shall fall down before him ; all nations shall serve him. And it shall come to pass in the 
last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the 
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. Every 
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low : the crooked shall 
be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, 
and all flesh shall see it together ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." These 
promises are exceeding "great and precious." They must and shall be accomplished. 
Earth and yonder heavens may pass away, but the word of the Lord abideth forever. All 
that he has engaged to do for Zion can by no means fail of an exact and a timely fulfil- 
ment. Do I speak of what He has engaged to do for Zion? Should I not rather say, what 
He has engaged to do for his only-begotten and well-beloved Son, to whom he has said, 
" Ask of me, and I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for thy possession." 



10 



INCENTIVES TO DUTY 



If, then, the approving seal of Providence upon the past has any force as an omen of 
the future ; if the great commission of the text, with its accompanying — " Lo I am with 
you," has any deep and auspicious significancy ; if there is truth in the promise of God to 
his Church and to his Son ; if the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son 
is ordered in all things and sure, so that all that the Father hath given Him shall come to 
Him : then the missionary enterprise rests upon a large and solid basis ; it can never be a 
failure ; it must ultimately be crowned with complete and glorious success. Though the 
field of its operation is the world, very dark and very desolate ; and though the difficulties 
it has to overcome are numerous and formidable ; and though its progress for a season 
may seem to be laborious and slow ; — yet it must ultimately prevail and triumph. On this 
point there is no room left for apprehension. 

The great and only question then is, and it is a question which all the people of God 
are bound to ponder with prayerful and tender anxiety, what can we, what ought we per- 
sonally to do, in obedience to the command of our risen Lord, to urge this enterprise for- 
ward to its benign and blessed issue ? Its triumph is to be achieved through human in- 
strumentality — through the agency of the Church, ministers, and people. This throws a 
fearful weight of responsibility upon every one who has named the name of Christ, and who 
professes to sympathize with Him in his plan of redeeming mercy. I repeat it, therefore, 
the question which every Christian is required to decide touching the conversion of the 
world, is simply a question of personal duty — " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" 
Having heard of the extent of the missionary enterprise, its origin, its objects, its history 
and its sure prospect of success, do you acknowledge its claims upon you ? Do you feel 
the prompting of a warmer affection towards it, and do you ask what you are to do to ex- 
tend its influence and hasten its latter day of glory ? I will venture to make a few sugges- 
tions, designed to aid you in the solution of this inquiry. 

1. You are to seek for information respecting the condition of those whom this enter- 
prise aims to reach and to save. If you^know little or nothing of their extreme degrada- 
tion, their odious customs, their present and their prospective woes, your sympathies on 
their behalf will not be awakened ; you will be moved by no earnest concern for their sal- 
vation. The sources of information are of easy access. Missionary papers are so numerous 
and cheap, that no one need remain in ignorance. Fifty cents a year and the reading of a 
few pages every month will furnish you with details enough of heathen wretchedness to 
melt a heart of stone. Knowledge will awaken feeling, and deep, earnest feeling will lead 
to effort. And need I urge upon Christian men the obligation of feeling for the heathen ? 
Is it not enough to say, their souls are perishing ? You feel for your own family in dis- 
tress ; you feel for malefactors on the verge of execution ; you feel for passengers on the 
deck of a burning steamer as they fall before the devouring element, and sink to a watery 
grave ; you feel for the city where a pestilence is raging ; and can you be unmoved at the 
sight of six hundred millions of immortal men, dead in trespasses and sins, under the 
wrath of God, and sinking to an eternal hell without Christ and without hope ? 0, my 
hearers, you are called upon by all that is precious in the eternal life of unaccounted 
myriads of souls, and by all that is dreadful in the prospect of their being lost for 
ever, to be moved with the tenderest compassion for a world lying in wickedness. You 
must look at their condition, ponder their prospects, and feel for them " with the bowels 
of Jesus Christ." Feel as Paul did when he said, "I say the truth in Christ ; I lie not ; 
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness 



m THE WOKK OF MISSIONS. 



11 



and continual sorrow of heart for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Such 
feeling must and will prompt to effort. It will not permit you to rest in guilty indolence. 
It will urge and impel you to learn and to do your duty. 

2. You are bound to pray for the missionary enterprise earnestly and often. How- 
ever humble your station in life may be, or limited your influence among men, you 
can help this cause by your prayers. If you are a Christian, you have access to the 
mercy-seat, and power with the God of Missions as a supplicant, You can pray for the 
Church that she may be baptizefl with the spirit of her risen Lord, and disposed to enter 
with augmented zeal upon the work He has committed to her hands* You can pray for 
an increase of laborers to enter the field, already white, and gather the perishing harvest. 
You can pray for the missionary that his life may be spared, his heart encouraged, and 
his efforts crowned with a blessing. You can pray for the benighted nations that the Sun 
of righteousness may arise upon them with healing in his wings. You can pray for your- 
self that God will put it into your heart to do all in your power for the extension of his 
kingdom. For all these objects you can pray daily in secret places and' at the family 
altar ; and when the time for the monthly concert arrives, you can meet your brethren at 
the mercy-seat, and mingle your tears and your supplications for a perishing world with 
theirs. Ye who have an interest at the throne of grace, as you love the Redeemer and 
the souls of men, you are bound to plead the promises and pray without ceasiDg for the 
spread and triumph of the Gospel. Though you can do but little otherwise for this cause 
you can do wonders for it by the power of prayer. Even the meanest child of poverty, 
if he is a child of the Highest, can cast much wealth into the missionary treasury, and 
send many laborers into the missionary field by the simple offering up of that Christ-dic- 
tated petition, " Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What 
praying soul, then, in this assembly is not ready to say with augmented strength of pur- 
pose, " For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, 
until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp 
that burnetii, and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory." 

3. I remark, in the third place, that however much information you may procure re- 
specting the condition of the heathen, however deeply you may feel for them, or however 
earnestly you may pray for their conversion, your whole duty will not be discharged till 
to send them the Gospel you contribute of your property liberally, and even to a sacrifice. 
To sustain and carry forward the missionary enterprise funds are indispensable. Young 
men must be trained for the missionary service, and in many instances the expense of their 
education must be defrayed by the Church. When prepared they must be sent to their 
fields of labor ; and when there they must be fed and clothed. Those already in the ssr* 
vice must be supported ; churches must be built, schools established, and prin+iiig-presses 
kept in operation from year to year. All this requires funds ; and unless those funds are 
contributed by the people of God, the work must stop. Such is the responsibility upon the 
Church, and in that responsibility every individual member has a share. If you, my hearers, 
would do your whole duty you must soberly calculate how much you can contribute every 
week, every month, or every year, to send the Gospel to the destitute, and then act accord- 
ingly. Let this calculation be regulated not simply by a willingness to give, but by a 
readiness to practice self-denial, a determination to sacrifice— yes, to make large and cheer, 
ful sacrifices for the cause of Him, who, though He was rich, yet for your sakes became 



12 INCENTIVES TO DUTY 

poor. The question is not, What can you do conveniently to save 600.000,000 of your 
fellow-men from the woes of the second death. "What ! is convenience a standard by which 
Christians are to measure their efforts to obey the last command of J esus and save a ruined 
world ? What would you think of a father who should coolly say, he would do all he could 
conveniently to safe the life of a child dying with fever ? Or w T ho, after his death, should 
content himself with the declaration that he had clone all he could conveniently to save him 
from the grave ? Is the salvation of the soul a less momentous object ? Surely the ques- 
tion is not, what is it convenient for you to do — but what is it possible for you to do ? 
All that it is possible for you to do in consistency with other duties your Eedeemer 
requires of you. It may be convenient for you to make efforts enough to save ten be- 
nighted Pagans from death. It may be possible for you, without neglecting other 
duties, to save a hundred. God requires the hundred. Is this raising the standard of 
liberality too high ? Will you bend over an open Bible, and lay your finger upon the 
words of our text, and say so ? This standard may be too high for our present narrow 
views and our feeble piety ; but does it go beyond the spirit of the great commission and 
the wants of a dying world ? Is it higher than the demands of Christ and of duty ? Should 
we esteem it too high if we were properly imbued with the missionary spirit ? Is it too 
high in the estimation of those who live nearest to the Saviour, and have most of the mind 
that was in Him? Make our most devoted and self-denying missionaries themselves 
the judges, and will they say that this standard is too high ? For example, let us refer the 
question to that devoted wife and mother whose case was published a few years ago in 
the Missionary Herald. In early life she had accompanied her husband to a heathen land 
as a missionary. Tears passed away as she pursued her work of love, till her children 
were growing up around her. They were exposed to the contaminating influence of 
heathenism. They could not be educated aright in that dark and idolatrous land ; 
nor did she feel that she could leave that land to superintend their education in a Chris- 
tian country. She, therefore, concluded to part with her children, to send them to 
her own native land to be educated under the care of relatives, while she should remain at 
her post. The hour of parting came. She led them to the ship in which they were to sail ; 
gave them a parting kiss with a mother's affection and a mother's agony ; walked quickly 
away from the vessel to the shore, paused a moment, then lifted her hands and her streaming 
eyes to heaven and said : " O Jesus ! this I do for thee." Ask that mother whether the 
standard of liberality for which I am pleading is too high for her ? Would it be too 
high for us if we had her spirit ? O this ardent, constraining love to Christ as a Saviour 
-^this self-denying loyalty to him as a King — is the very essence of the missionary spirit. 
This is the spirit which, under God, is to convert the world. And when all our churches are 
thoroughly imbued with this spirit, then our missionary boards will no longer be embar- 
rac:-ed as they now are for the want of funds. Their treasuries will be full to overflowing. 
The rich and the poor together will give of their substance largely, liberally, even to the 
point of self-denial and sacrifice for the spread of the gospel — esteeming it blessedness 
enough in return to be able to look heavenward to a smiling Eedeemer, and say — ,; O 
Jesus, this we do for thee !" 

4. Again : It is the duty of some, nay, of many, to go in person to the heathen as the 
dispensers of light, mercy, and salvation. Perhaps some of us, brethren, should have gone, 
who are now ministering in these pleasant places. Perhaps it may still be the duty of 
some of us to resign our present charges and go. But if we go not ourselves, whom shall 



IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS. 



13 



we send, and who will go for us ? And as we ask this question, with what interest do we 
turn to the pious young men of our churches. There may be some such young men before 
me now. A word to them. In the name of Jesus, I ask you to take his great commission 
in your hands, and prayerfully, candidly, seriously, and as for the judgment, ponder the 
question, whether it is not your duty to go as his ambassadors to the heathen. Look 
well to this inquiry. Open your eyes to light and evidence, and let every selfish 
preference be subordinated to the claims of Jesus and of souls. I know your danger 
of mistake, because I know the ties which bind you here. Here are your friends and rela- 
tives. Here is your country and your home — and you love it. Here cluster all the thrill- 
ing memories which bind you to the past. Here you have heard the sweet sound of the 
gospel, and found peace in believing in Jesus. Of course all your earthly attachments are 
here. Here you would naturally wish to live and labor, and here you would die and be 
buried. But on the other hand, here is the great commission — " Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature," and with it is blended the thrilling cry from 
thousands and hundreds of thousands of the heathen : " Come over and help us." Oh, it 
may be the will of Christ that you should respond to this cry, and go far hence to the 
Gentiles. If so, be willing to see it. And when duty is once made clear, let there be no 
hesitation — no conferring with flesh and blood, but let your prompt and cheerful response 
be— 

"And I will go : I may not longer doubt 
To give up friends and home, and idle hopes, 
And every tender tie that binds my heart 

To thee, my country ! 

I only pray, God fit me for the work : 
God make me holy, and my spirit nerve 

For the stern hour of strife. 

And when I come to stretch me for the last, 
In unattended agony, beneath 
The cocoa's shade, or lift my dying eyes 
From Afric's burning sand, it will be sweet 
That I have toiled for other worlds than this. 
I know I shall feel happier than to die 
On softer bed." 

So many of our beloved young men, now in distant lands, have thought, and felt, and. 
spoken. We bless God for their example. It shows the true spirit of Christianity ; and 
we trust there are many others now in our midst who will be fired with a similar zeal, and 
go forth on a similar errand of duty and of love. 

Finally. Let me say, it is exceedingly desirable that all our churches should have living 
representatives from their own numbers acting as missionaries on heathen ground. There is 
a sad deficiency here in most of our churches, large and small. They may be very worthy 
of commendation in many respects, but they are wanting iir missionary zeal — and the reason 
may be that no one of their own sons and daughters has ever gone to the heathen. Oh, 
how it identifies families and churches with the missionary enterprise, to have their own 
baptized and consecrated children come forward and give themselves to the work. They 
feel then as they never felt before, that this cause is their cause ; they pray for it with 
augmented fervency, and take a livelier interest in everything relating to its history and 
progress. In such churches the monthly concert is not forgotten, nor are missionary 
contributions made with a cold and grudging reluctance. Would to God that all our 
churches were connected with this cause by such a tender, and intimate, and living bond 
as this. Let us pray and labor that they may be. 



14 



INCENTIVES TO DUTY IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS. 



My dear brethren in the ministry and eldership : Let us see to it that the missionary 
enterprise has a vigorous hold upon our affections and our hopes. We are among the 
leaders in that army which, under Messiah, the Prince, is marching on to the moral con- 
quest of the world. A great and fearful responsibility is upon us. The missionary zeal 
of our respective charges will sink or rise with ours. If our congregations feel but little, 
pray but little, and contribute but little for the cause of missions ; and if few or none of 
our sons and our daughters devote themselves to its advancement, doubtless the fault of all 
this is, in a great measure, with us. Such is our responsibility ; and in view of it, let us 
begin to study the great commission anew ; let us make it our meditation day and night ; 
let us pray over it till we feel its binding obligations more sensibly, and imbibe its very 
spirit. Let us inculcate that obligation and that very spirit upon our people, and urge 
and lead them up to the help of the Lord, even to the help of the Lord against the mighty ; 
and when, in the heat of the conflict, they send up to us the earnest, anxious inquiry, 
" Watchman, what of the night?" — let us point them to the promises, and send back the 
prompt and animating answer, " The morning cometh," — the morning of a bright and 
glorious millennium. 



*A 10466 



